Technology seeks to aid human communication. Communication is a process that includes a sender and a receiver who converse over some medium. There are two main types of communication of which technology conventionally assists namely verbal and written communication. For example, traditional telephones are devices utilized to transmit and receive sound or more specifically voice communication amongst participants. This swung communication away from handwritten letters to telephonic voice communication. The advent of computers and the Internet brought written communication back in vogue by way of e-mail (electronic mail) and instant messaging (IM). Further, development of mobile communication devices offers support for voice and written capability utilizing SMS (Short Messaging Service) and/or MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), for instance.
E-mail is a store-and-forward style technology for written electronic communication. E-mail systems provide facilities for sending, receiving, and transmitting messages electronically, among other things. Messages can be entered utilizing a text editor and addressed to recipients utilizing a related e-mail address. Such messages can then be saved in a sender's mailbox, sent across a network such as the Internet to a message server, and subsequently pushed or forwarded to a recipient's mailbox. While e-mail is fast and reliable, it is also a very flexible communication means. For example, in addition to written text, it can also include pictures, audio, and/or links to websites, among other things.
IM (Instant Messaging) is a form of real-time communication or chatting amongst individuals using typed text, among other things. Computers or other devices connected to a network such as the Internet can facilitate communication in this manner. In general, IM differs from e-mail in that text messages appear before users in substantially real-time or instantly. Messages sent to individuals who are not on-line and/or connected to the service cannot be completed. However, some systems have been developed that allow messages to be sent to off-line individuals thereby blurring the distinction between IM and e-mail.
SMS (Short Messaging Service) is a communication protocol that enables short text messaging between mobile communications devices. SMS is a hybrid e-mail—IM technology for mobile devices such as phones. Like e-mail, SMS is a store-and-forward technology. Messages are sent and received utilizing a message service center that acts as an intermediary between senders and recipients. Further, messages are limited to text messages and in particular short messages. In addition, the speed at which text messages are delivered, if at all, can be affected by inherent connectively issues such as where a user has a poor communication signal or is out of range.
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is an extension to SMS to enable multimedia objects such as images and audio to be sent amongst mobile communication devices. MMS messages are sent in a similar fashion as SMS messages except that multimedia content is first encoded and inserted in a manner analogous to e-mail. Like SMS, however, MSS is not the same as e-mail since it is based multimedia messaging concepts where messages are afforded in accordance with a presentation file, among other things.
The above noted messaging technologies are distinct for the most part. For example, e-mail and IM are confined to computers while SMS and MMS are associated with mobile devices. Nevertheless, some devices such as so-called smart phones are essentially small handheld computers with phone capabilities. Accordingly, smart phones can enable use of both technologies but through different supporting infrastructure. For instance, a user can text message using SMS or via IM by logging in through a web browser.